When I think about an addict,I picture an IV drug abuser, sickly ,thin and pale with track marks up and down his arm. Another image I have in my mind is a drunken, homeless, alcoholic on a city bench holding a brown bag of cheap whiskey. What I don't or can't picture, when I think about an addict, is a kid with a sidekick on the Internet, instant messaging and chatting with 4-5 buddies while researching homework questions and downloading I tunes. Maybe my perception is just too black and white? I know there is some grey areas like the functional alcoholic who holds down a job and supports a family but I can't stretch that to include any person who utilizes the Internet as a medium as an addict. Even if it is used every day for several hours a day. Before this medium was utilized people spent more time on the phone chatting with friends. Homework was researched at the public or school library. To get a date you had to get dressed up and go out to socialize. Even to get a new Cd you had to go to Sam Goody or Coconuts. Now all of these activities can be done on line. Technology has enabled the society to access the entire world the amount of information to be explored is mind boggling. This may consume an enormous amount of your free time, but it may be required to get done what needs to be done or to simply explore and broaden your mind.
Now the question is how much is too much? Does overindulging in an activity make that activity and addiction? When does a blackberry become a " crack berry"? I really don't believe that it is the amount of time spent on the Internet, but rather what is being accessed and to what degree. If every day several hours are spent on porn sites or gambling sites then , yes I may consider that an addiction. I would not label this an Internet addiction. I would consider that individual to have a sexual addiction or a gambling addiction. I don't think that you can bundle everything up that is provided on the Internet and label someone who maybe accessing various sites at different times for different purposes as an addict. There are just too many variables to consider. The internet is a compelling medium and people may develope a compulsion to log onwhenever they some fre time. I believe that people are not addicted but have become dependant on the convienence of its use.
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2 comments:
I agree with what you're saying. We are taking the easy way out when we "neatly package" different problems into an addiction. The internet is just what you said, a medium. It is not a substance or activity in itself that we can become addicted to. We will never crave "internet."
I agree with Joseph’s ideas. He brings up very interesting points about the article. I like the idea that we became depended rather than addicted to the use of the internet. Joseph is right that the internet have changed our world in some aspects of our life. Life is so much easier and faster, and although we give up on some stuff we gain others. Therefore, we most sacrifices certain thing to gain others and as a society we need to open doors to new and more develop ideas.
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